[NoDak]

Moving from small town in North Dakota. We liked the feel of New Fairfield, CT. My husband will be working in White Plains. What is the commute like? We have a family, what are the schools and youth activities like? Any other communities we should consider? Thank you.

[Rich Lee]

Originally Posted by NoDak

Moving from small town in North Dakota. We liked the feel of New Fairfield, CT. My husband will be working in White Plains. What is the commute like? We have a family, what are the schools and youth activities like? Any other communities we should consider? Thank you.

Your best bet would be to cross over into New York State to take Metro North - Harlem line from Brewster to White Plains (33 miles).

[jdhall1]

Nodak,
It would be about a 45 minute drive to White Plains from neighborhoods on the west side of town, and about 50-55 on the eastern side. I do not think it is worth taking the train down there unless if you really don't like driving.

One thing people like about New Fairfield is it's small town feel. There is a total of four schools in the town (k-2, 3-5, 6-8 and 9-12) and all of them are located on the same road. The high school has about 900 students, seventy-seven percent of seniors are college bound according to the data I get (as a Realtor) but those numbers seem to under-report across the board.

This is taken directly from the district's website
[url]www.newfairfieldschools.org{/url]
MISSION STATEMENT

We are a community of learners dedicated to academic, social and personal excellence.


DISTRICT GOAL
Ensure continuous improvement and measurable achievement in reading for meaning for all students.


CORE BELIEFS

To foster a culture of lifelong learning and responsible citizenship, we believe that each child is every adult's responsibility;a safe and healthful environment is essential;a family, school, and community partnership is critical to student success;and that we must support and promote global awareness, diversity, integrity, and the dignity of each individual;foster a culture of professionalism and collegiality;evaluate the present order to plan for the future.

There are the typical youth activities in New Fairfield, such as a full time of sports and boy/girl scouts. If you end up buying a home in a waterfront community, they do have organize activities for children of all ages.

Another community in the area that is worth consideration is Bethel. Whereas New Fairfield is to the north of Danbury, Bethel is to the south/east of it. It is a little more bit expensive than New Fairfield and is closer to the 50-55 minute range for the commute to White Plains. It does not have the lake, but it does have two state parks. The downtown has a little bit more to do then New Fairfield's village center, and their schools have about the same reputation as New Fairfield but Bethel's school are not as up to date as New Fairfield's but all of their schools are on the same campus.

I can tell that you re looking for a smaller town, I won't completely write off Danbury, the regional center of about 80,000 people. It does have the most things to do and is more affordable than New Fairfield and Bethel. The schools do a very good job on educating its large and diverse group of students and the schools system has a lot of programs and courses that the smaller more suburban towns don't. Access to the highway is a lot easier in Danbury than in New Fairfield and Bethel, though none are very far from the highway. The commute would be about 45 minutes from the Mill Road Plain exit (#2) up to about 50 from exit 5 (North Main street).

Feel free to ask me any more questions,
Jonathan Hall

[NoDak]

Thank you for your response. How much commute time is saved from Bethel versus New Fairfield? Are the schools of similar quality?

[jdhall1]

Bethel would be about 10 minutes longer, since it is further away from NY. The New Fairfield schools score a tiny bit lower on standardised tests as Bethel, but nothing to worry about and Bethel's schools have been getting more full with all of the new construction in recent years.
J.H

[mdkkr]

If you leave Bethel or New Fairfield at 6:50 am, you will get to White Plains at roughly 7:33am. If you leave at 7:30am, you will get to White Plains at 8:40am on average; sometimes sooner. The highway in NY (684), is like the Autobahn in the morning, usually.

Friday nights are tough - I'd advise taking the train on Fridays - it's nice - you can read a newspaper and have a coffee and relax.

Bethel has a great downtown which New Fairfield doesn't have. They have a supermarket, 3 pubs, a Mexican restaurant/bar, a very nice Italian restaurant and 3 pizza places as well as a world famous ice cream shop, a bakery, and many other boutiques, etc, etc, etc. You will probably experience a better sense of community in Bethel because of this, and the high school is undergoing a renovation right now. Both towns are similar demographically - New Fairfield sits on Candlewood Lake, which is beautiful. You will get slightly more house for your money in Bethel, but New Fairfield is a very nice town also. You can't go wrong either way.

[NoDak]

Thanks for all the information. What do you think about Redding in comparison to Bethel and New Fairfield?

[jdhall1]

NoDak,
Redding is the most 'rural' of the towns and is considered to be the most affluent of the group. The schools system is shared with a small town just to the south of it, Easton. There are two state parks and the town has a lot of protected open space. Some people like it's quiantness despite being only about ninity minutes from NYC, and more importantly about 55 minutes to White Plains. There is almost no stores in Redding so you what have to drive to Danbury, Trumbull or Fairfield to do your shopping.

After pulling up my marketplace data for the 2006 year (i'm a realtor in the area), the average single family home sold for about $875,000, which is about $400,000 more in Bethel and New Fairfield, and the condos where about $525,000. The homes are larger in Redding, which accounts for the difference in price. Since the median is $875,000, I'm going to give you an idea what that gets you. You'll be looking at a 4 bedroom, 2 1/2 bath colonial totally 3000 square feet on about 2 acres of land. There are only 3 homes listed under $500,000 in Redding and they are not that large.

Jonathan Hall